Three‐phase capital campaigns

The structure of most capital campaigns traditionally contains a private (or quiet) phase and a public phase. Leadership gifts are raised in the first phase, while the general prospect pool is asked to participate in the effort during the public phase. An announcement is made at some point to make the campaign public. A survey of 195 donors reveals that as the campaign nears its end (95 percent completed), donors tend to be much more likely to contribute. This suggests organizing campaigns (in addition to planning and evaluation phases) into three core phases (leadership, growth, and goal line) rather than two phases (quiet and public). The implication for fundraisers is to wait as long as possible (at least to 40 percent of the goal) before moving into the second growth phase. They might also take advantage of the propensity of donors to want to complete the task and reach the goal by implementing a special effort in the final “goal line” phase. Once the goal is reached, donors are dramatically less likely to continue giving to the campaign.